Facts about Teeth
Teeth are made not of a bone, but of four tissues of different density and hardness: enamel (the hardest substance of human body), dentin, cementum, and dental pulp.
Humans (and mammals in general) are diphyodont, i.e. they develop two sets of teeth during the lifetime: 20 milk teeth and 32 permanent ones. The presence of a higher-than-normal number of teeth is called hyperdontia.
Some animals have more than one set of teeth in their lifetime. For instance, sharks grow a new set of teeth every two weeks. And walrus tusks are canine teeth that never stop growing throughout life.
Caries is one of the most common diseases throughout the world. It is caused by acid-producing bacteria that live off the remains of foods, especially sugars and starches. To prevent tooth decay saliva helps neutralize the acids that increase the pH of the tooth surface.
Dogs are less likely than humans to suffer from dental caries because their saliva has a very high pH which prevents destruction of enamel.
Since humans are omnivores, meaning that they eat both plants and animals, they need different kinds of teeth to break up different types of food. These are incisors, canine teeth, premolars, and molars.
40% of people over 65 do not have all of their teeth.
Dentistry in the UK is a £5bn market, and the number of registered dentists rose from 31,029 in 2000 to 35,419 in 2007.
Comments:
helpful
Good post you have here. People would also find this interesting fact a good read. Through this, people would give more importance and take good care of their teeth too.
We appreciate
Thank you very much. It's always good to receive reader's feedback, helps to keep it interesting.
Indeed, this is an
Indeed, this is an interesting read. I hope kids will stumble upon this. I'm sharing this one to my kids. Thanks, Farkas!
no
not helpfull
Dentist
Good dentist is helpful. This one is an entertaining reminder of vulnerability of human teeth.
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